Congratulations! In the 35th Anniversary Year of the AIX OS, IBM has renewed certification for this remarkable operating system!
You can now (again) take the exam and be proud to be AIX Certified. At the time of writing (June 2021) there is only one exam available: IBM AIX v7 Administrator Specialty
Stay tuned: if and when there are new exams, I will write about them also.
Attention! All information is taken from official sources such as IBM and Peason VUE websites. The author is in no way going to reveal details about specific questions on the exam and warns others against such actions.
Exam S1000-007: IBM AIX v7 Administrator Specialty
- IBM website: >>>https://www.ibm.com/certify/specialty?id=S1000-007
- General description: You are an AIX administrator or technical support engineer, performing the full administration cycle of one or more OS instances. You are familiar with networking technologies, have a general understanding of performance tuning and virtualization technologies.
- Main topics: Planning; AIX and software packages installation and upgrade; System start and shutdown; Basic configuration files; Storage subsystem and LVM; Backup and recovery; Monitoring and configuring the system; Troubleshooting; Basic security and users configuration.
- Related training courses:
Power Systems for AIX I: LPAR Configuration and Planning (AN11G),
Power Systems for AIX II AIX Implementation and Administration (AN12G),
AIX Network Installation Management Concepts and Configuration (AN22G). - Additional knowledge: TCP / IP networks, performance tuning, troubleshooting (basic knowledge and skills).
- Level: Beginner.
- Exam lenght: 75 minutes.
- Number of questions: 46.
- Passing score: 31.
I can also recommend IBM Redbooks:
IBM eServer Certification Study Guide — pSeries AIX System Administration (sg246191),
IBM Certification Study Guide eServer p5 and pSeries Administration and Support for AIX 5L Version 5.3 (sg247199).
But I warn you that some of the information in them is outdated — pay attention to the year of publication and the OS version.
What do you need to pass the exam?
1. Your desire to become an AIX Certified Professional.
2. Several hours of your time.
3. A certain amount of colored paper or plastic with images of cities, or famous personalities, or flora and fauna — depends on which country you live in.
4. Knowledge of English.
5. Of course, knowledge and experience with the AIX OS.
6. Test center.
Let’s describe it step by step.
1. Desire.
If you have read this far, then you have a desire to pass the exam. Excellent! The most important part is done.
2. Time.
The technical duration of the exam is indicated in the exam description. Plus, add a few days to contact the test center, sign up for an exam, and then get a certificate.
3. Finance.
The author is not able to help you with this question. There are many known legitimate ways to obtain them. How much exactly is needed — check on the website of the test center.
4. English.
Basic knowledge of English. There are no complex constructions in the text of questions and answers; when developing the exam, it is taken into account that not only those who have native English will take it. Experts from different countries, as a rule, participate in the development of exams and, trust me, they also get confused with English tenses, conjugations and articles. By the way, I think, if you can read this text then your English level is more than enough.
5. Knowledge and experience.
Each exam has an official guide, which lists all the topics covered in the test. Use it in advance to estimate how much you know the material.
Read the list of topics: if they do not raise any questions from you, then this is very bad. Usually there are no questions for someone who does not know the subject at all. Joke. Probably.
In general, I hope you understand what I mean: do you think you understand the topic? Excellent! Feel that you are not so good — tighten your knowledge.
Sometimes practice tests exists. Of course, passing such a test will not give any guarantee that you will pass the real exam, but you can roughly estimate your chances.
What about the experience? My point of view that the real experience is the most valuable, but some theory is need to know also.
6. Test center.
Starting point: Pearson VUE website. It is this network of test centers that currently (June 2021) hosts exams on IBM technologies. Select section For test-takers — Schedule an exam. Choose a vendor: IBM. Here is this section of the site right away: https://home.pearsonvue.com/ibm but everything in the web interface can change.
Some useful buttons on the page: Sign In (if you already have an account); Create account (if not). You can create an account yourself, it’s free. The Candidate Testing ID will be assigned, which you will use when ordering exams. Carefully indicate your first and last name in Latin letters — exactly as you write it, it will be on the certificate.
Find a test center: Find the nearest test center. In my opinion, the search works strangely — after specifying the country, I found only a few test centers. I had to indicate a specific city. Choose a test center convenient for you, then contact them directly. Prices for exams should be the same everywhere, but whether a specific center is open on a specific date, the method of payment, how to get into the building — check it out yourself.
What should be done before the exam?
Pay for the test. Check the payment procedure in the test center in advance.
Get some sleep.
Calm down. I said Don’t Panic!
Plan your time so that you can come to the test center in advance. As a rule, at least 15 minutes before the start of the exam. If you are late, then you may be given “missed the exam”, and the prepayment will not be returned. I advise you to clarify the conditions in advance in the test center.
Take two identification documents with you. One of the documents should be with your photo. Driver’s license, passport, bank cards, etc. – check the local requirements in advance.
What should be done at the very beginning of the exam?
Once again: Don’t panic!!!
Carefully check that your Surname and First name are correctly indicated and that this is indeed the exam that you are going to take. No kidding. Everybody has errors and failures.
How does the exam go:
You are put at a computer on which the program with your test is already loaded. The navigation is simple, if something is not clear — ask the staff of the test center. By the way, if the mouse does not work, the screen glares, the chair is broken, or someone sings songs loudly at the next computer — tell the test center employees about this right away; after the exam, such claims will not be accepted. When you check that everything is correct and press the Start Exam button, the countdown will begin. You cannot pause it. You can’t go away “for a couple of minutes”. The exam will automatically end when the allotted time runs out. But if you answered all the questions ahead of schedule and are confident in your answers, you can click the End Exam button yourself.
What not to do during the exam:
As I’ve said, you cannot pause it and you cannot leave the computer on which you are taking the test.
You must not communicate or interfere with other examiners.
You must not to peep questions and answers from other examinees.
You must not to use any documentation or personal notes.
Do not use any electronic devices, including a mobile phone. To avoid misunderstandings (answered the phone call and kicked-off from the exam), I may advise you to turn off your mobile phone or even hand it over to the staff of the test center during the exam, if they provide lockers.
Don’t write down the texts of the questions in order to take them out of the exam. At your request, you will be given paper for notes and a pen, but they will be taken away at the end of the exam.
Don’t ask the staff of the test center for help on questions or to help with the translation of the text.
The test center usually has the right to record the process of passing the exam on video. Some restrictions may apply according to the local laws and regulations.
What you can do:
To take the exam.
To take the exam.
To take the exam.
Contact the employee of the test center if a technical problem has arisen (the monitor turned off, the program hung etc.), if someone or something is interfering, if there is a question about working with the interface.
Yes, that’s, practically, all that is possible.
I almost forgot: you can (and should!) take the exam.
What are the questions on the exam?
If you expect to see examples of real questions here – close this article please, because they are not here and will not be.
I will tell you what types of questions typically can be found on such exams. It’s based on the free practice quiestions availble in the Redbooks.
1. Single Choice — Choose one answer from several options.
Example:
What subject are you taking the exam in now?
[x] Information Technology
[ ] WARP engine researching
[ ] The dark side of the Force
[ ] Magic wand spells
2. Multi Choice — Select multiple answers.
Note that the question clearly states how many options to choose.
Example:
Which two letters of the proposed options are vowels?
[x] A
[x] I
[ ] X
[ ] P
[ ] Z
3. Ordered — You need to arrange all the options in the correct order.
Please note that in this type of question there are no unused answer options and that some of the steps (elements) of the row can be skipped.
For example, as far as I know, the Earth is the third planet from the Sun, but the example of the question below is quite correct.
Example:
Arrange the planets in order of distance from the Sun, starting with the closest one.
[2] Earth
[3] Mars
[1] Mercury
[4] Jupiter
Are there unclearly formulated questions or questions that don’t have a correct answer?
Sure! Despite the fact that each question is evaluated several times, discussed and checked by experts, it happens. No one is immune from mistakes.
What if you come across such a question? Read it again first. Perhaps everything is correct, and you have missed some detail. But if, nevertheless, you are sure that you are right, and the developers of the exam are not, then you can leave your comment on this question. If this has a critical impact on the final exam result, then there is the possibility of an appeal.
Some advices for passing the exam.
If you count the number of questions and the total exam time, you get about 1.5-2 minutes per question. This time should be enough to read the question and, if you know the topic, you may guess the correct answer yourself. It remains only to choose it from the proposed list. Don’t know the answer? Read the question and answer options again, more carefully.
No ideas anyway?
Choose some most suitable answer option and postpone this question!
The interface has the option to check a box to return to a specific question.
Don’t waste 10 minutes on one question. During this time, you could answer several other ones.
The passing score is not 100 or 90 percent, keep that in mind and control the time.
Have you answered all the questions, but there is still time?
You can check them again until the exam time is over.
Nobody rushes you.
What happens after the exam ends?
The result will appear on the screen almost immediately after the allotted time ends or you pressed the End Exam button.
You will be given a printout showing how many points you have scored, what passing grade is, how many percent of correct answers you have on the exam topics. You will not be shown which specific questions you answered correctly.
Keep this document — it may come in useful later.
If the final result is PASSED, then in a few days an email will come with a long-awaited and well-deserved certificate in PDF.
Congratulations! Now you can proudly include “IBM Certified” on your CV.
I hope this article helped you. I would be glad to receive your comments or clarifications.
Thank you for your interest in AIX and everything related to the IBM POWER Systems!
#AIX #PowerSystems #Certification #Education #IBM #IBMChampion
With best regards,
Dmitry Mironov
IBM Champion
IBM Certified